Last week, Leigh Tauss wrote about how mayors in Raleigh and Durham are speaking out against a proposed state senate bill that would financially punish municipalities that reduce police department budgets.
While Durham hasn’t reduced its police spending yet, Mayor Steve Schewel said it’s considering such a move, in tandem with increasing money for mental health crisis services.
Reader Tonesha M. Mayo bemoaned that decreasing police spending would send us back to the 1980s. “I appreciate you guys reporting the news as it’s provided, but this is the dumbest thing ever, no offense to you guys,” TONESTHA M. MAYO wrote.
“They can’t honestly be serious. Have we not learned from other states, that I don’t need to mention that are currently scrambling to increase their budget by about $6.4 million as a direct response to the increase in crime since the budget had been reduced for the police? How exactly does it make sense to reduce police force as a response to reducing crime? I was born, bred, and raised in the ghetto and I know that will not work. Literally, when that happens the police tend to stop patrolling inner city neighborhoods and crime obviously goes up there, because they know that no one will do anything about it. These mayors and council members have the audacity to actually even suggest something so absurd when they don’t live in inner cities themselves so it won’t affect them. Unless they’re like those other elected officials that cut the overall budget for police while increasing the security aka police force, at their own residences. Everyone keeps talking about more social workers and less police, well here’s my questions for that, how can you talk someone out of a driveby shooting, or selling drugs to provide for themselves or their families after the states have been locked down so long people have lost their jobs, or any of the other crimes that occur? That really doesn’t even make sense. With reduced police force everywhere will turn exactly the way things were in the 80s which was terrible. Those types of situations are being grounds for more people that need mental health services from actual trauma which further makes no sense. I mean I can go on and on, but the point is that instead of reducing the police force, why aren’t they suggesting that police are vetted to find all the bad and crooked cops and further vet police income to actually make a change instead of reducing the budget. Like that is just nonsensical.”
